E-Prescribing Legislation Wins Praise from Chain Drug Stores

Author: Ken Rankin

Chain drug store industry leaders
have praised Congress for encouraging
pharmacists and physicians to switch
to electronic prescribing systems?a
move that figures to reduce the risk of
medication mix-ups while easing the
workload in the nation's community
pharmacies.

In applauding lawmakers for including
language in the Medicare
Modernization Act to promote the
adoption of electronic prescription
connectivity, National Association of
Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Chief
Executive Officer Craig Fuller told the
House Ways and Means Subcommittee
on Health that "e-prescribing" technology
will help improve both the
safety and efficiency of the prescribing
process, as well as improve the quality
of medication decisions.

In testimony before the panel,
Fuller said that the use of paperless
electronic prescribing is a safer and
more efficient solution than current
handwritten prescriptions and telephone
communications between pharmacists
and physicians.

"Errors are more likely to occur at
several points during the medication
prescribing and delivery process of the
existing paper prescription system,"
Fuller explained. "The Institute for
Safe Medication Practices estimates
that indecipherable or unclear prescriptions
result in more than 150 million
calls from pharmacists to physicians
asking for clarification."

The chain drug industry group is
working with the National Community
Pharmacists Association to promote
e-prescribing through a joint "Sure-
Scripts" initiative that electronically
creates and transmits prescriptions.
SureScripts is now the nation's largest
electronic prescription network, with
66% of all community pharmacies and
50,000 US physicians able to connect
to the system, the NACDS CEO said.